That 'Palantir' name is so evocative of old authority's relationship with technology. It reminds me of David Brin's observation that said artifact in Lord of the Rings differed from a modern smartphone in just one way - it was a unique item, available only to the highest lords of the magical ruling classes. If that's your inspiration, you're no kind of friend to democracy.

So in the UK there was a program for decades where cops would go deep undercover and join political activism groups to spy on them. Often they'd manufacture complete identities and enter romantic relationships with activists for their in, or even marry in.

Two undercover police officers secretly fathered children with political campaigners they had been sent to spy on and later disappeared completely from the lives of their offspring, the Guardian can reveal.

In both cases, the children have grown up not knowing that their biological fathers – whom they have not seen in decades – were police officers who had adopted fake identities to infiltrate activist groups. Both men have concealed their true identities from the children's mothers for many years.

One of the spies was Bob Lambert, who has already admitted that he tricked a second woman into having a long-term relationship with him, as part of an intricate attempt to bolster his credibility as a committed campaigner.

The second police spy followed the progress of his child and the child's mother by reading confidential police reports which tracked the mother's political activities and life.

A cosmetic company started a "Paid to Lie" ad campaign about these spying cops and demanding an open inquiry because the current investigation has been full of scandals itself and reeked of a coverup. Unsurprisingly, the police don't like a public ad campaign about a massive police scandal. And apparently cops are going around to stores and telling people to take down critical messages.